The Hugo Award-winning and controversial science fiction masterpiece from Robert A. Heinlein, the New York Times bestselling author of Starship Troopers.

Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love.

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Stranger in a Strange Land, winner of the 1962 Hugo Award, is the story of Valentine Michael Smith, born during, and the only survivor of, the first manned mission to Mars. Michael is raised by Martians, and he arrives on Earth as a true innocent: he has never seen a woman and has no knowledge of Earth's cultures or religions. But he brings turmoil with him, as he is the legal heir to an enormous financial empire, not to mention de facto owner of the planet Mars. With the irascible popular author Jubal Harshaw to protect him, Michael explores human morality and the meanings of love. He founds his own church, preaching free love and disseminating the psychic talents taught him by the Martians. Ultimately, he confronts the fate reserved for all messiahs.

The impact of Stranger in a Strange Land was considerable, leading many children of the 60's to set up households based on Michael's water-brother nests. Heinlein loved to pontificate through the mouths of his characters, so modern readers must be willing to overlook the occasional sour note ("Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's partly her fault."). That aside, Stranger in a Strange Land is one of the master's best entertainments, provocative as he always loved to be. Can you grok it? --Brooks Peck

Review

'The best of his many books and the best in the genre' Washington Post
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.

Most helpful customer reviews

-----------------------------------------------------------Heinlein conceived STRANGER in 1948, but didn't finish it until1960. His editor asked him to cut it from 220,000 to 150,000 words; aspublished it was 160,087. It was reissued from the originalmanuscript in 1991, and I just got around to reading this "uncut"edition. I first read STRANGER in the early sixties -- it's the only"major" Heinlein I'd never reread (unless you count _To Sail theSunset Sea_ as major).STRANGER hasn't aged well. Ostensibly set in the 21st century, itreads like the 1950's. News commentators are "winchells" and"lippmans" -- I recognize the names, but remember nothing elseabout the originals; do you? The bad guys and minor characters arepurest cardboard. Women ("bims") have the "liberty permitted catsand favorite children"; homosexuals are "poor in-betweeners". Theworld beyond the USA is almost invisible.Jubal Harshaw, the writer, patriarch and "father of all", is a self-indulgent know-it-all given to long, hectoring speeches. Thewomen are quick to shed clothing and inhibitions, and couple withany water-brother. They grow younger, more beautiful -- and moreexhibitionist -- as they learn Martian mind-control. Feh.And yet, and yet .... STRANGER still works as a novel -- I reread itpretty much at one go. The idea of a child raised from infancy by analien race ... Valentine Michael Smith's journey from innocence tofull humanity to New Messiah ... the cheerfully crasscommercialism of the Church of Foster ... the silly-but-seriousmysticism ... Heinlein, whatever his flaws, was a master story-teller.Read more ›

Heinlein's "masterpiece" Stranger in a Strange Land starts off brilliantly. The first 100 pages or so comprise a well-paced absorbing thriller, and even up through the 200-page mark the story remains strong. And then the protagonist Valentine Michael Smith grows up and takes charge of his own life. And the whole novel falls flat on its face and remains thus for the remaining 250 pages.You see, in the beginning Michael is innocent and somewhat helpless. So he's powerless against his enemies and I naturally rooted for him. Then he slowly began to use his superhuman powers and I became even more absorbed and thrilled, watching him shake off his foes and emerge unscathed. Then he took asylum in a large secured residence with the evil government of the U.S. bent on capturing him and using him for their own ends. Could it get any better, I asked? This was five-star material.Unfortunately, that's the climax of the story and it comes less than halfway through. The rest is supremely mediocre. Mike becomes a god on earth due to his invulnerability and wealth. What does he do with this status? He basically uses his powers to establish a large harem and teaches others how to do the same thing. The only interesting character in this whole charade is Jubal Harshaw, who probably represents Heinlein himself and his opinions on various matters of philosophy, sex, religion, etc. Two stars here.Average: three and a half stars but I'm knocking it down to an even three due to the unsatisfying ending.

This book is too light-weight too be a classic. I admire Heinlein for being daring enough to say things in 1961 that are obvious to many of us now, e.g. most people are easily fooled, religion is ridiculous, the Bible has parts which are bizarre, all governments place preserving their power above serving their citizens, there is no absolute moral basis for monogamy, homosexuality is fine, etc. I think Heinlein understood the world fairly well. For the most part he was properly critical about it, without being universally cynical. However his statement, "Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's partly her fault." is impossible to overlook. You can say, "Well, he was just being cynical about men and saying that any intelligent woman should be able to see how dangerous they can be and plan accordingly.", but I think that's a stretch. The Occam's Razor answer is that Heinlein was something of a misogynist. As we all know, misogynists see things in overly simple terms. This book is light-weight because it makes simplistic observations. For instance, I just don't think sexual jealousy is a major contributor to the troubles of the world. Heinlein makes shallow, impractical, utopian recommendations for how to fix things. Sure we could do without sexual jealousy but Heinlein fails to see that it can't be eradicated because it's genetic(babies get jealous). Did Heinlein really think that having us all sleep with each other would eliminate war? This reminds me of people who say that if we all smoke pot there will be no crime, war, etc. I think Heinlein was impractical about religion too.Read more ›